Every guitarist has that one special guitar that they wished they had back. It might be because it was a sentimental gift, maybe it was sold to pay the bills, or maybe you just didn't realize how much you loved that guitar until it was gone. These are the stories of the ones that got away. Most of them are my own stories, but send me your stories as well and they just might get published here.

Monday, February 2, 2009

1963 Gibson ES-335

Story submitted by Tim Birchard

The year was 1985 and I was a junior in high school in a small town in Texas. A dear friend of mine told me she had a guitar her father had given her when she was a child, and asked if I'd be interested in seeing it. Being a 17-year-old metalhead, I told her 'of course!' She went back into her bedroom and moments later emerged carrying a Gibson case. An old Gibson case. My curiousity was piqued. I opened the case, and there before me was a flawless 1963 ES-335, cherry red finish, with block inlays and a suspended bridge. The serial number was "130971." My mouth dropped open when she asked if I wanted to play it.

I sat there for probably thirty minutes playing it and refusing to put it down, when she asked me if I wanted it. I just looked at her as if she were speaking Martian. Her father, who had given it to her, agreed that it made more sense for it to be with someone who really appreciated it, and since no one in their family played guitar, and since it was obvious that I appreciated it, they offered it to me as a gift.

I said yes.

I took it home and tried to play heavy metal on it. I dragged it across the country, risking damage and loss in the luggage compartments of airline flights. I soon developed a cocky and cavalier attitude, as if I somehow truly understood the value and beauty of this guitar. And worse yet, that I somehow deserved such a guitar.

Fast forward three or four years and I'd moved to Austin, TX with only one semester left at the University of Texas, studying audio production. There was only one problem—I didn't have the $400 in tuition I needed for my final semester. The woman I was dating told me she wasn't going to date a "loser" and that if I wanted to keep going out with her, I had to finish college. While I'm grateful for that motivation now, I cringe to remember what I saw as 'the only way out.'

I drove down South Lamar to Ray Hennig's Heart of Texas Music, put the case on the counter and told Ray I was interested in selling my guitar. He opened it up and his eyes seemed to light up for just a second, then he said, "Well, I could sell it on consignment, but I can't give you anything for it now."

I looked out his storefront windows across Lamar and said, "Well maybe Music Makers will be interested in buying" and I started to close the case. He said, "Whoa! Hold on a minute there," and came around the counter to stand next to me. "How much do you need?" I told him (cringe) "Four hundred dollars."

He took a minute to call his brother in Waco, talking with him in low tones, and then hung up. He counted out four one-hundred dollar bills and I was out of there, with tears in my eyes. I went straight to the Registrar's office and paid my tuition before I could be tempted to blow the cash.

And in the past 19 years I've gone back into that store at least three different times asking about serial number 130971… and strangely there's "just no record of that guitar."

For what it's worth, Ray has been generous enough to give both of my nieces brand new acoustic guitars because he's friends with my sister-in-law. Maybe it's karma, since he has no idea who I am, and has never remembered me (why should he?) whenever I've gone back into his store. Actually, now it's mostly his grandson I see behind the counter… who used to be just a little whipper-snapper ripping off hot riffs on his guitar when I used to go in.

I guess that kindness to my nieces should take some of the sting out of it… I don't know. But I do know this: if I ever find 130971 again, you can bet I'll pay whatever it takes to make her mine again.

(If you know the whereabouts of 130971, please contact me by email here)--

Got a similar story. Bought mine 1963 or '65 at a pawn shop in 1978 for $250 . Played it for a couple a years through a tranny amp and had no idea what i had. Put it back in pawn for $200 two years later and never took it out. Didnt know how to get that sound out of it.Now I gotta pay......

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The Ones That Got Away is conceived of and owned by Jaimie Muehlhausen. All of the contents of this blog are the property of Jaimie Muehlhausen and all rights are reserved. Any submissions to The Ones That Got Away become the property of the blog without any expectation of compensation in the event of future publication or other re-use of the contents. In other words, if The Ones That Got Away gets turned into a book at some point you will not be compensated for the publication of your story. Just covering my ass in case.